We all have things we want to change about our bodies. There’s always at least one body part that we think could look better, or if we’d just gain or lose 10 pounds we’d look the way we want. A lot of people turn to CrossFit because of this, and they’ve likely seen some great results. CrossFit is known to help people lose weight and gain muscle, but will it help you with stubborn belly fat?
Hate to break the news, but no, not really.
CrossFit can help you lose some belly fat (and overall body fat) because you’re building muscle and burning calories, but reducing belly fat comes down to your nutrition. We all wish it wasn’t true, but you can’t out-exercise a bad diet.
If you want to lose belly fat, you have to decrease your overall body fat percentage. This happens by watching what you eat, skipping junk food, and creating a calorie deficit.
If your goal is to reduce overall body fat, focus on eating whole foods, meat, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Fruit is okay, but try to limit your starches and kick processed sugar to the curb.
And remember that muscle weighs more than fat so you might not see a big change in the number the scale shows you. A better way of seeing progress is noticing how your clothes fit, or taking pictures of yourself along the way.
Also, cut yourself some slack. There are a lot of dumb, unrealistic beauty standards out there, and they change all the time. If you’re building healthy habits, and dedicated to making healthy choices a part of your life style, you’ll see results. And even better: you’ll feel good about yourself.
And isn’t that what we all really want?
Happy sweating,
Meghan
